gadian:One of the worst books I was forced to read in the sixth grade. I'll always remember it. That and Alas, Babylon.

Really not a book suited for 12-year-olds. You have to have a little life experience and empathy to appreciate it. I tried reading "Moby-Dick" when I was 8 and again when I was 12, and couldn't hack it. Tried again in my 40s and LOVED it.

/I prefer "East of Eden".//Read a bunch of Steinbeck in my 20s, which is the PERFECT age.

So Steinbeck was a socialist. Do you feel you need to offer a defense for socialism? You are free to proceed; that's what the First is all about. Simply stating the facts of Steinbeck's political views is not the action of an asshole. Preemptively playing the victim, however, with your "in before!" is an act of douchebaggery, or maybe just intellectual bankruptcy, or at the least sheer sloth.

Let's try this: Steinbeck was a socialist. How about YOU tell ME what that means?

Like a lot of American authors, Steinbeck was pro-labor in the '20s and '30s, and had some peripheral involvement with Communist-backed labor groups. He also volunteered to work for the CIA in the '50s, while opposing HUAC's witch hunt. So pretty much your standard mid-20th-century liberal Democrat -- pro-labor, anti-totalitarian.

Wrath of Grapes you say?Grapes produce a bit of evil methanol to go with the noble ethanol, especially when the skins are masticated and fermented as most reds.So yes, red wine hangovers are worse, it's not your imagination.I tested this again last night, the data is pretty conclusive but more research is needed.In the name of science!

"Two gallons is a great deal of wine, even for two paisanos. Spiritually the jugs maybe graduated thus: Just below the shoulder of the first bottle, serious and concentrated conversation. Two inches farther down, sweetly sad memory. Three inches more, thoughts of old and satisfactory loves. An inch, thoughts of bitter loves. Bottom of the first jug, general and undirected sadness. Shoulder of the second jug, black, unholy despondency. Two fingers down, a song of death or longing. A thumb, every other song each one knows. The graduations stop here, for the trail splits and there is no certainty. From this point anything can happen." ~From Tortilla Flat

I love the Henry Fonda version for a lot of reasons, but the video production I like best is the American Playhouse version. Gary Sinese made Tom Joad believable, and that's quite an accomplishment given that Steinbeck wrote him as a very over-dramatic character.

lazymojo:I remember near the end of my freshman year of HS, we took a family trip to SF. I bought a t-shirt there with the "Route 66" logo on it because I thought it was cool. I was from Michigan, and there was no Route 66 in the state.

I was wearing it over my track uniform before a meet a couple weeks later, and a bunch of the sophomores on the team were like "Route 66? Why do you like Route 66? Are you an Okie? Are you Ma Joad?" and laughed at me.

I had no idea what they were talking about.

Then in sophomore year english class the next year, I read Grapes of Wrath, and was like "Ah, NOW I see where they were coming from."

Favorited: Michigander, SF, track team, route 66. Even though Route 66 would lead you to LA not SF unless you meant San Fernando.

LazyMedia:Really not a book suited for 12-year-olds. You have to have a little life experience and empathy to appreciate it. I tried reading "Moby-Dick" when I was 8 and again when I was 12, and couldn't hack it. Tried again in my 40s and LOVED it.

/I prefer "East of Eden".//Read a bunch of Steinbeck in my 20s, which is the PERFECT age.

I don't know why they assign half of the books they do to kids except they are "classics". I do know that I'll never pick up Steinbeck again just because the experience poisoned it for me. The same for Tennessee Williams, Hemingway, either Shelly, or most of Dickens. Am I missing out on great literature? Probably, but I just can't get past the immediate disdain and the physical headache that I assume is some sort of operant conditioning.

Mister Peejay:OccamsWhiskers: I am grateful that I was never assigned this book for school reading. After 6th grade, that always seemed to extinguish any joy I got from reading.

I always read the book way more than the assigned reading and then read something else in class and then had to re-read the assigned reading but always procrastinated that part because I was already on a different book and long story short I never did well because I didn't remember where the class was at relative to the book.

And the AP English teacher I had when we had to read Grapes was a complete elitist tool who kept mis-pronouncing Memaw as "MEE-maw" instead of "M'maw" which is the way anybody who has been outside of their farking collegiate ivory tower understands is the way some American subcultures refer to their grandmothers and I could never tell if he was actually that obtuse or if he was deliberately being a dipshiat about it as a way of asserting his superiority over those uneducated rubes, probably the latter from the way he over-enunciated the improper pronunciation, and anyway I failed that class just to make him look bad. People back then were willing to die for a hill for no good reason, Ifelt justified in failing a class for more enlightened reasons.

I have personally known 2 older ladies called Mee-Maw by their loving families. One was from east Texas and one was from Detroit. I believe it is a regional variation.

KumquatMay:Mister Peejay: OccamsWhiskers: I am grateful that I was never assigned this book for school reading. After 6th grade, that always seemed to extinguish any joy I got from reading.

I always read the book way more than the assigned reading and then read something else in class and then had to re-read the assigned reading but always procrastinated that part because I was already on a different book and long story short I never did well because I didn't remember where the class was at relative to the book.

And the AP English teacher I had when we had to read Grapes was a complete elitist tool who kept mis-pronouncing Memaw as "MEE-maw" instead of "M'maw" which is the way anybody who has been outside of their farking collegiate ivory tower understands is the way some American subcultures refer to their grandmothers and I could never tell if he was actually that obtuse or if he was deliberately being a dipshiat about it as a way of asserting his superiority over those uneducated rubes, probably the latter from the way he over-enunciated the improper pronunciation, and anyway I failed that class just to make him look bad. People back then were willing to die for a hill for no good reason, Ifelt justified in failing a class for more enlightened reasons.

I have personally known 2 older ladies called Mee-Maw by their loving families. One was from east Texas and one was from Detroit. I believe it is a regional variation.

Mister Peejay:I always read the book way more than the assigned reading and then read something else in class and then had to re-read the assigned reading but always procrastinated that part because I was already on a different book and long story short I never did well because I didn't remember where the class was at relative to the book.

And the AP English teacher I had when we had to read Grapes was a complete elitist tool who kept mis-pronouncing Memaw as "MEE-maw" instead of "M'maw" which is the way anybody who has been outside of their farking collegiate ivory tower understands is the way some American subcultures refer to their grandmothers and I could never tell if he was actually that obtuse or if he was deliberately being a dipshiat about it as a way of asserting his superiority over those uneducated rubes, probably the latter from the way he over-enunciated the improper pronunciation, and anyway I failed that class just to make him look bad. People back then were willing to die for a hill for no good reason, Ifelt justified in failing a class for more enlightened reasons.

heh. As has been covered here already, you aren't nearly as right as you think you are. I grew up in Eastern Ky, in the Appalachian foothills. As far as grandmothers go, it was usually mee-maw or mam-maw (spelled as they sound). Take your pick.

Just because you aren't familiar with it, doesn't mean it doesnt exist.